Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Is it me...or is it really hard to think of titles for each post???? I always think I want to come up with something clever but I never do!! lol Anyway, I have had some very busy days trying to catch up with work after being in the livestock barn at the fair. If we weren't at the fair it seems like we were running up the road to GET to the fair. Well, we are done with that.....for now.

We had some much needed rain yesterday. I woke up to severe weather bulletins. We didn't really get the severe weather but we did get rain. It is really dry here so it was welcome. I have a friend who is a dairy farmer and they desparetely need more rain for their corn crop for silage and second cutting of alfalfa. We would have started combining barley yesterday but couldn't because of the rain. Our sunflowers really needed the moisture. I took this picture last night. We had several storms in the area last night. I thought it was kind of neat.Okay, now moving on to another yummy recipe!!

Creamy Chili Chicken Enchiladas!!

These enchiladas are so saucy...( like me says my farmer-- ha) I tell ya you are going to love them!! The nice thing about them is you can make them really rich or you can tone them down to a more healthy, figure friendly meal.....whatever you want! Here is what you will need to make these saucy enchiladas.

1 small onion

4 cloves garlic, pressed in your garlic press or minced

2 tablespoon butter

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 cup chicken broth

2 can chopped green chilies

1 teaspoon ground coriander

as much ground pepper as you like

2 cup shredded cheese-- your favorite-- I used monterey jack today

1 cup light sour cream

4 cups chopped cooked chicken

tortillas - flour or corn---I used flour tonight but corn is my favorite!!

In a small saucepan, saute onion and garlic in the butter until tender. Combine the flour and the chicken broth until smooth--add this to the pan slowly--stir in the chilies, coriander and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cheese and the sour cream--stir until melted.

Combine chicken and 1 cup sauce or more.......Place chicken filling down the center of each tortilla.

Roll up and place seam side down in a greased baking dish.

Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake until melted. Garnish with whatever you like!!!! If you are trying to cut down on calories you can cut out the cheese on top and or use lowfat cheese and also you can use light sour cream. Now, on the other hand if you want a really rich enchilada you can use full fat sour cream and regular cheese. They are both very delicious.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Hi everyone! No you are not on the wrong blog....I decided I needed a change so I am trying a new template! I don't have much time today but I just wanted to check in anyway. Things are going great at the fair--Saturday is the last day. After that I will be able to share some pictures and some recipes! Tonight my farmer is taking me to the Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean concert! I am excited! We havn't been to a concert in ages!!!! Soon we will start harvesting and then it will be the early mornings and late nights of combining. Since we are going to the concert tonight I changed all my playlist songs Jason and Miranda songs! Thanks for dropping by!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Hello everyone! It was another one of those busy summer days. I have been working in my flower gardens and vegetable gardens. Things are finally growing nicely though I did have a few cut worms chop off a couple cucumber plants!! That makes me MAD!! Here on our farm we are doing MANY things. The farmer is preparing the combines for harvest. We will soon be combining barley! We are also getting things ready to take a few sheep to the STATE FAIR. Now, those of you that have shown livestock know that this process entails many, many details...big and small! It's gets to be a lot of work but I believe that it is really good for our kids. Having to do chores, taking care of animals helps them to learn responsibility and that's always a good thing...RIGHT???

Anyway moving on to the recipe for today!

OUTSIDE-IN CHEESEBURGERSI know this sounds confusing at first but just stay with me and I know you will get it! Does your family like cheeseburgers? Ours does but a lot of times I would run out to the grill and place the cheese on the burgers. Now, all the sudden a child comes rushing out and needs you NOW! So, you leave the grill, vowing that you will be right back to check on the melting cheese. Well for some odd reason.....you FORGET about the cheese. Finally you remember to check the burgers, you rush out to the grill, open the lid and what do you see??? ALL THE CHEESE HAS MELTED OFF OF THE BURGER and is hanging on the grill grate burning up! Well, that's what happens to me many times anyway! So, I have found that this is an easy way to have cheeseburgers WITH cheese!

What you will need:

1 1/2 pounds extra lean ground beef

1 packet lipton onion soup mix

cracked pepper

American cheese

Of course you can use your favorite burger recipe. I have several that I like but this one is quick and easy. Mix beef with soup mix and cracker pepper. Now you need to form very thin patties that are all as close to the same size as possible.

Place your favorite cheese on the top of a patty--then cover with anothe patty! Repeat!It will look like this. Now, this is very important make sure you pinch the edges of the two patties together to seal--or the cheese will drip out! (and we are trying to avoid this remember?) For some reason my picture of the sealed patty didn't turn out so please remember to do this!

Cook until juices run clear; place on a really yummy bun like this one. Add desired goodies and EAT! Isn't this one cute? I had a few cherry tomatoes that were ripe in my garden (which is early for our part of the US) so I used them! The kids thought it looked pretty cute! He looks as if he is saying "Come on...get over here and take a big ol' bite out of me!!"

Thursday, July 17, 2008

I wanted to give you all a glimpse of what I see around my farm. I realize that many of you know what these crops are so bear with me as I think that there are some folks our there that have not seen some of these crops growing in a field.

These pictures I am about to show feature our little farmchick and our little farmers in several different fields!

This is a picture of one of our fields of FLAX. Flax is my favorite crop because I just think that it is sooooooo beautiful. When you see a large field of flax at a distance it looks like a big blue lake!! The blue flowers are just so pretty!

Now this picture is of a CANOLA field. Aren't the yellow flowers so bright and cheerful?!!This picture is one of our WHEAT fields. It is still green so it is not ready for harvesting. It will turn to a pretty amber color when it is ready to combine. (like amber waves of grain in America the Beautiful)Oh and this is a picture of what kids do when their Mom is trying to snap a good picture!Thanks for letting me take you for a stroll down our country roads....I hope you enjoyed it! I didn't get a picture of any our barley fields yet and when our sunflowers are blooming I will be sure to snap a shot! They are also very pretty and happy looking!!

Stop back soon for another yummy recipe! Oh and please do leave me a comment and let me know you stopped by--- I love making new friends!

Vivian makes the sweetest bears and dolls so you really must pop over there for a look! THANKS Viv....I appreciate it!!!! I know I am to pick seven other people to award this to but that is just so hard to do!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

TACO CASSEROLEWe all have those days that we don't have a lot of time to prepare a meal for our family....this meal is so easy to throw together and also a good way to get rid of the broken tortilla chips on the bottom of the bag!

To make this quick and delicious dish all you need is:

1 1/2 pounds of extra lean ground beef

taco seasoning

1 cup of salsa

1 can of kidney beans

tortilla chips---------lettuce

cheese ( I used low fat mexican cheese)

olives

tomatoes

onionsBrown ground beef and add taco seasoning. Mix together the beef, salsa and kidney beans. Put broken up chips on the bottom of 9x13 in pan. Next layer the beef mixture on top. Bake in oven set at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Pull out and add cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and olives. Serve with sour cream and or salsa!

You will notice in the picture that today I didn't have any tomatoes but I normally do add them!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

So, our little girl (well she's 11), we will call her Little Farmchick decided that she had wanted to make a surprise for us for the 4th of July. SO, she added a few things of her own to our grocery list. I have to say, she LOVES to cook and if I must say so myself she is a pretty darn good cook! So, after the parade on the 4th she started making her "surprise" We were given strict instructions NOT to enter the kitchen! Right before dark and shooting off our big

fireworks she had us come to the table and served us these. She called them

STAR SPANGLED JELLO!

Didn't she do a great job! We sure thought so. She even cleaned up her dishes and mess when she was done! What more could you ask for??? I am positive Little Farmchick would LOVE a comment from you all!!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

I have been TAGGED by Kindraover at 3 Guys, a Girl and Prim Place for this A-Z meme! So here it goes!!!A. Attached or single? Attached & Happily Married.B. Best friend? My husband.....he can make me laugh anytime!!C. Cake or pie? Key Lime PieD. Day of choice? FridayE. Essential item? My computer for sure!!!!F. Favorite color? RedG. Gummy bears or worms? Gummy bearsH. Home town? Kief, NDI. Favorite indulgence? I would have to say getting my hair colored!J. January or July? July for sure!! The fourth is one of my favorite holidays!K. Kids?One sweet daughter and two sweet sons!L. Life isn’t complete without? My family and friends.M. Marriage date? September 29th 1995N. Number of brothers and sisters? 1 brotherO. Oranges or Apples? Oranges.P. Phobias? I hate spiders and snakes!Q. Quote? "Kindness is never wasted"R. Reasons to smile? My family and the fact that I have the life I have always dreamed of.S. Season of choice? SUMMER!T. Tag 5 people:Behind My Red DoorThe Vintage House WifeCranberry FlatsFrazzled FarmwifeSimply MeIt would be great if you can play along! If I didn't tag you and you want to play too, great!! Let me know!U. Unknown fact about me? V. Vegetable? romaine lettuceW. Worst habit? computer addiction!X. Xray or ultrasound? Ultrasound!Y. Your favorite food? shredded beef enchiladasZ. Zodiac sign? Aires

Hello to everyone out there! I hope this day finds you all in good spirits!

Today I am posting a recipe for some really yummy porkchops rubbed

with a sweet yet spicy rub. I am not a big porkchop fan but I do like this

alot! If you get your grill good and hot the sugar in the rub will melt

quickly and seal in all the juice! Very tasty! Let's start shall we?

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

pork chops ( I use the more lean loin chop--I don't like the greasy kind that start on fire! ha)

Okay now let me just say--this rub can get quite spicy so if you have children (like me) whose tastes range from "I like it a little spicy to --I like it really spicy" here is what you can do. Make two different versions of the rub--leave out the pepper and red pepper flakes in one version and just add as much as you want to each child's individual chop. Don't worry, if you have extra rub mixture - just store it in a little ziplock or container! It keeps just like your spices.

Now all you need to do is sprinkle the rub on each chop and then gently rub the mixture all over the chops on both sides. I like to refrigerate the chops with the rub mixture overnight. Make sure you fire up your grill and get it HOT! Place the chops on the grill and cook until juices run clear. Now enjoy!

sWeEt and sPiCy cHoPs

that's what's for supper

in Farmchick's Kitchen tonight!

I also wanted to show you my soy candleswith the sweet red, white & blue stars-just in time for the 4th of July--well you can use them all year around! The candles scents shown here are Apple Pie-which smells just like a hot apple pie cooling in the the window (without the calories! ;)) Clean Cotton- smells like a refreshing scent of just washed sheets dried in a gentle ND breeze (this scent is great for people who like fresh scent smells!) Blueberry Muffin - fresh baked blueberry muffins straight out of the oven!

Thanks for stopping by - please do leave a comment and let me know you were here!